Chapter Fifty-Two
By the time Minato, Kakashi, and Fugaku reached the Hokage's box, they were greeted by an empty room with a gaping hole in the ceiling. FUCK! Minato cursed himself for being so easily driven off.
"There's some kind of barrier blocking the way," Fugaku said as he inspected the hole, "We can't get through this way!"
"Windows!" Minato shouted. He tossed a shuriken with an explosive tag, blowing out the windows. The men desperately rushed up the side of the building and to the rooftop, only to find the barrier extended in a box completely isolating them from Lord Third and his assailant. Someone had also used some kind of wood-style or nature release to cause dense foliage to shroud the inside of the barrier from human view.
"Lord Fourth, do you copy!" Minato's tactical radio screeched with Itachi's voice.
"Go ahead!"
"I have the video recordings, but it's going to take a while to get it transmitted. The northwest corridor and Hokage Rock shelter are under attack."
Shit! Could anything go right today?! "Fugaku, rally whatever forces you can," he turned to the Uchiha patriarch.
"I'm not leaving, damn you!" Fugaku growled defiantly.
"You'll do more good protecting the civilians; don't think they or I will forget that! Now go!" Minato knew it was a cheap shot playing the man's ego, but it did work. Fugaku, like his son and most of the Uchiha clan, yearned for recognition and the respect that came with it.
"Fine, you assholes make sure you do your job!" He took off in a huff toward the Northwest.
"Kakashi, any chance we can breech this thing?" Minato tested the barrier with his hand, feeling the solid mass of chakra pushing back against him.
"Maybe," the younger man considered, "but it means hitting it with everything we got." Kakashi began charging his right hand, and the Sharigan in his left eye turned into a smoldering coal.
Minato began summoning as much chakra as he could. Concentrate! Bigger! More! More! The Rasengan built first to the size of a grapefruit. More! It swelled to the size of the beachball. DAMMITT MORE! Even he felt dizzy as the swirling tempest of energy built to an orb large enough to swallow a fully grown man. Can't keep this up!
"NOW!" Kakashi's attack whistled like a red hawk splitting the air as it joined with the massive Rasengan. The resultant bright flash and air burst blinded and deafened Minato for an instant. When he regained his sense of self, he and Kakashi were both kneeling and covered in mild charring from standing so close to such an explosive burst of chakra. Still, it had worked, the barrier had collapsed, and the thicket that had sprouted from the rooftop had been partially blown away.
The horrific sight that greeted Minato's eyes caused him to double take. Orochimaru had summoned a reanimated Lord First and Lord Second. However, the sight of the dead Hokages was nothing compared to what Lord Third had summoned. Oh my god, NO!
Behind Lord Third was the summoned form of Shinigami, the very embodiment of death, the Soul Reaper Demon. Minato had seen renderings in art, but they did no justice to how ghastly the death demon's form appeared. Hot piss streamed down Minato's leg as watched the demon reach an ethereal hand through Lord Sarutobi and into the reanimated Hokage's. "SEAL!" Lord Third shouted.
"LORD THIRD, NO!" Minato screamed. Minato had planned to use the reaper to seal Nine-Tails into Naruto thirteen years ago. At that time, Kakashi had talked him out of it, and Akemi had offered the more workable alternative of splitting Kurama in two, and eventually in three. As the demon reached in and swallowed the souls of his predecessors, Minato knew it was too late. Lord Sarutobi had sacrificed his soul, and his body would soon follow.
"YOU ASSHOLE!" Kakashi charged toward Orochimari, only to be stopped by two snakes among the brush uncoiling and stinging him.
Minato rushed to his student's side, cutting the snakes from Kakashi with a kunai. One had bitten Kakashi on the right arm and the other in the neck. "Kakashi!" Minato screamed as he examined the angry purple bite wounds.
"I'm sorry, sensei," Kakashi wheezed, "take care of Naruto, Hinata, and Sakura!" Kakashi went floppy in Minato's arms.
"DIE!" the twin voices of Lord Third and Orochimaru called out. Shingami was pulling the souls of both men, and Orochimaru had at the same time run through Lord Third with a long katana. As the reaper cut the men's souls free, Lord Third collapsed lifelessly. Orochimaru meanwhile staggered backward, both arms flaccid at his side. Despite being seemingly paralyzed by the event, Orochimaru grinned, "I don't need my arms to kill you, whelp!" His tongue began turning into the poisonous snake.
The shock of losing Lord Third and now potentially losing Kakashi turned into an angry red ember. "Suck my wood, snake!" Minato growled as he concentrated his remaining effort into the grafted cells in his right hand, "Wood style release!" A tree shot forth from the roof's structure, sending Orochimaru's snake-tongue back into his mouth violently. Minato summoned vines from the tree and began constricting them around Orochimaru's body. "DIE YOU FILTHY BASTARD!" Hot, angry tears spilled from Minato's eyes as he began crushing the snake Sannin to death.
The other man's golden eyes split open wide in terror as the vines began to squeeze. "Wh… r…. son…" Orochimaru wheezed as his ribs began breaking with a sickly SNAP. "Where is your son!" the man screeched in pain as his body was constricted.
"What?" Minato's anger turned to alarm. In his rage, he'd almost forgotten about Naruto after everything that happened here.
"Where is you son, Lord Fourth," Orochimaru wheezed.
"What's that got to do with anything," he willed the vines to twist around Orochimaru's neck, hoping death was slow and agonizing for this odious caricature of man.
"You sent him with Gaara," the snake grinned despite clearly being pained.
Minato's heart stopped. "Talk or die, snake!" Minato pulled out a kunai and pointed it in to Orochimaru's throat.
"Gaara will be becoming unstable very soon," the snake hissed as blood bubbled from his mouth. "You can kill me, or you can save your apprentice," he pointed his chin to Kakashi, "and your son, not both!"
Every killer instinct in Minato was for continuing to crush Orochimaru, but he knew better. He was wasting time, and Kakashi was dying. Kakashi was family, his other son as far he cared. Minato grasped Orochimaru's long tongue and drove his kunai through its center, almost severing the now limp appendage. "Next time, it goes up your ass!" Minato turned and dispelled his wood release, now feeling dizzy and the incredible amount of chakra it had taken from him. Despite the fuzzy head and a body soaked in sweat and piss, he managed to take hold of Kakashi and focused on transporting them both to shelter.
As they appeared in the shelter, Shizune dropped a clipboard she had been holding, "Lord Fourth! Kakashi!" Shizune screeched as she ran to them.
"He's been poisoned by Orochimaru's snakes!" Minato groaned. "He's not breathing!"
"Bring him here!" Shizune gestured to a metal procedures table as she ran to a nearby cabinet.
Minato heaved his student-turned-bodyguard onto the table. Shizune quickly pulled out a set of surgical scissors and cut away Kakshi's mask and shirt. "How long was he like this?!" the medical-nin demanded.
"Seconds, thankfully!"
"Code blue, room three!" Shizune shouted. She flashed a light in Kakashi's eyes while she pressed on the good side of his neck. "Pulse rapid and weak, no respiration! Kakashi! Stay with me here!" she demanded as she extracted a metal tool and a long section to tubing and pried open Kakashi's mouth.
Minato froze as she forced the plastic tubing down Kakashi's throat and attached a bag ventilator. "Lord Fourth! Help me! I need you to squeeze the bag and release it steadily.
He did as she ordered, "Shizune, I've never done anything like this!"
"You just have, congratulations on your first life saved!" She said as she attached heart monitor leads and a pulsoximeter to Kakashi. She shined a light in his face again. "Poison is a paralytic, as long as we keep air in and out, he should survive.
As Minato looked down at the handsome face frequently shrouded, his thoughts turned back to his son. "Shizune, where is Naruto? Where is Gaara!" he asked frantically.
"Gaara had some kind of cursed seal on his neck, it was causing Shukaku to stir!"
"Oh god, please don't tell me!"
"He said he was taking Gaara to Training Ground Three, along with Hinata, Sakura, and Sasuke!"
Several other medical-nin burst into the room, one taking over on the bag-ventilator. Minato reached into his pocket, pulled out a packet of soldier ration pills, and swallowed them as he staggered out of the room. There was so much that had just happened the room started spinning as he staggered out into the hallway. Everything was numb and unfocused as he dragged himself along the wall. Lord Third was dead. The village was in danger. Naruto and his friends were in danger.
"LORD FOURTH!" the loud shout forced the world back into focus. Shikamaru ran down the bunker's corridor, followed by Temari.
"S-Shikamaru," he heaved.
"We heard over the radio you were here," the boy slid to a stop and began panting, "Naruto…"
"Training ground three?" Minato asked.
The boy nodded, as did Temari. "Shukaku is getting loose," she heaved.
Dammit, Naruto is already sick, and he's dealing with something that deadly! "All right, I got to get to him!"
"Lord Hokage, do you copy?" the radio on his belt squawked.
"Sir, I am broadcasting the data on all channels, but I can't get it to their command frequency; it's somehow encoded. I can't get in!"
Temari's face lit up, "I can help!"
Minato called back, "Itachi, where are you? Temari might be able to help!"
"Hokage's Mansion, hurry!"
"All right you two, join hands with me," Minato commanded. Shikamaru and Temari did as ordered. "Here we go!" They vanished in a flash.
Sakura struggled to keep the stretcher holding Gaara from swinging as they carried him toward Training Ground Three. Despite worrying that Gaara could lose control at any moment, her worry was with Naruto. His skin was pallid white, except where his cheeks flushed red. Long beads of sweat were dripping down his temples; however, he was also shivering. No more fibs, Naruto, how bad is it? Hinata activated her Byakugan on Sakura's signal. While she didn't know human anatomy as well as Sakura, Hinata confirmed Sakura's suspicions as she nodded and extended two then three fingers. Naruto's appendix was easily two or three times its normal size by Hinata's estimation – a festering explosive tag ready to pop at any moment.
As they reached the entrance to the training ground she finally had enough, "Everyone stop!" she commanded.
No one objected, and they set Gaara down. "What's up, Sakura?" Naruto huffed, clutching his right side.
"Enough fibs, you're a lot worse than food poisoned, Naruto!" Sakura pointed to his side.
"So, it is appendicitis," Hinata said as she stepped back from Gaara.
"You knew!" Naruto twisted his face in confusion.
"Suspected it, especially when Sasuke and I started getting better and you only got worse," Sakura confirmed. "I asked Hinata to use her Byakugan to confirm it just now."
"Why didn't you say something sooner, dammit!" Sasuke chided
"Sasuke," Naruto cut in, "If we didn't get Gaara out, a ruptured appendix would be the least of our worries."
"All right, fine!" Sasuke huffed, "Now go, all of you!"
"Sasuke, what the hell?" Naruto groaned, "We cant leave you here with him!"
"Bullshit, Naruto," Sasuke walked up to him and jabbed a finger into Naruto's gut, eliciting a wince, "One solid hit and I have to explain to your mom and pops why you're dead!" Sasuke turned to Sakura, "Get him out of here and back to the medics right now!"
"Sasuke, I'm not leaving you!" Sakura started at the wily look in Sasuke's eyes. It was the look of someone suicidal.
"Sakura, we don't have time to argue! Naruto is gonna die, if you don't take him back; I at least have a fighting chance against Gaara!"
"There has to be another way!" Sakura pleaded, turning to Hinata who was now supporting Naruto, "Come on, think!"
"Wait, what if I block his chakra!" Hinata exclaimed.
At the suggestion, something inhuman erupted from within Gaara, the cursed seal glowed an evil red, and the massive tailed beast took shape as Gaara laughed and screamed maniacally.
Akemi Hyūga raced after the group of men that had snatched her daughter. What were you thinking letting her be this close to the action! Why the hell didn't you send her on ahead! Despite her own recrimination, Akemi burned her self-doubts to fuel the muscles in her legs. She would kill these men, or they would kill her. You're not taking another daughter from me!
The range began closing, and she could see Hanabi, gagged, and staring with wide, terror-filled eyes. This time, the recognition of the men was automatic, they were from Kumokagure. They had snatched Kushina when she was Hinata's age; they had snatched Hinata when she was only three, and now they had taken Hanabi. However, this time, she wasn't a helpless housewife. A solid year of training as a shinobi might not make her an expert, but she was also a momma bear shinobi. You gentlemen are about to find out why you don't fuck with a momma bear's cubs!
"Damn, this bitch is furious," one of the five men mocked her as he looked back. As he turned forward again, he and the others stopped, "HOLY SHIT!"
Akemi didn't wait to see what stopped the men as she grabbed the first one by the scruff of his neck and faceplanted him into the pavement with a sickening crunch of a breaking nose.
"You assholes!" Akemi looked up to see Kushina, face contorting like a vengeful oni. Almost three decades of holding in the fox had left its wicked mark as nine red tails of hair flailed about as she assaulted the point man of the group. Kushina hit him in the face with enough force to expel his front teeth. The other three ran for the nearest building, and she and Kushina gave chase.
As the men rounded a corner, one of them was clotheslined by a smooth, muscular arm. "Going somewhere gentlemen?" Tsuande grinned as she rolled up her sleeve.
"Run!" The Kumo shinobi carrying Hanabi took off one way, and his buddy went the opposite, only to be tripped up Konohmaru, "Have a nice, fall, asshole!"
"Konohamaru, what did you tell you about using that language!" Kushina smirked like a parent silently approving of a child's misdeed.
Akemi nodded, "Let's get our girl back!" the squad followed Akemi. The enemy had ducked into Ichiraku's.
As they burst through the entryway, Akemi froze. The man had a kunai in Hanabi's neck. "Back off, or the girl gets it!"
"Let her GO!" Akemi screamed.
"You'd be wise to listen to her," an amused voice called from the counter. The figure turned on the stool to reveal it was Jiraiya. "You've got two of the legendary Sannin, the Hokage's wife, and two genin blocking you in," Jiraiya sipped a cup of tea. "So why don't you do us all a favor let the girl go; it'll save us the trouble of cracking your skull in," Jiraiya smiled and saluted with his teacup.
"I will kill her!" the now piss-soaked shinobi threatened. His hands were shaking. Hopefully, he doesn't cut her on accident. A sudden movement in the corner of her vision made Akemi's lip curl. "There's no way out of this, and that's going to hurt, young man."
"What?" the froze quizzically followed by a loud THUNK! His eyes rolled back and his grip on Hanabi slacken.
"Mom!" Hanabi ran to Akemi as the man fell forward to his knees and face down on the floor.
"It's all right, honey!" she vice-gripped her daughter as they both went to the waterworks. "It's all right, mommy has got you!" Akemi looked up long enough from her daughter to see the smiling cook, Teuchi, beaming as he held up his cast iron frying pan. "Thank you, Teuchi!" Akemi cried.
"Think nothing of it, I can't have these bums messing with my favorite customers!"
The sensation of being transported via the Flying Thunder God Technique left Temari spinning even as the room at the Hokage's mansion solidified. Damn, I'll never get used to that! Itachi greeted them hastily and rushed them to a room with a mass of communications equipment and computers stacked neatly. "I've been trying to transmit the surveillance video on the command frequency, but they have it locked somehow!"
"Let me see!" Temari commanded. The males stepped aside as she looked at the video communications display. She grabbed the computer microphone and hit the transmit button, "This is Diamond One, authorization code sakura, lotus, sakura, eighteen-oh-six, verify me!"
"Authorization code accepted, Lady Temari," the video communication link sprung to life. "Lady Temari!" a Sunakagure Jonin answered on the commlink, "What are you doing!"
"Tell our forces to stand down!" She exclaimed.
"Lady Temari…"
"Don't give me any bullshit about orders, either!" She waved an angry finger, "Your orders are fake, and I'm sending you proof right now!" Temari nodded, and Itachi began transmitting the video of Orochimaru and Lord Sarutobi. "Broadcast it on all comms channels; I don't care who you have to step over, but we need to stop now! Father is dead and your orders were issued by an imposter!"
The man on the other line froze as the video played. His eyes widened and his jaw dropped as the conversation replayed again and again. Finally, he did speak, "Yes, ma'am! I'm retransmitting on all frequencies, along with your order to stand down!"
Temari felt a hand on her shoulder. Looking over her shoulder, it was Shikamaru. "You did the right thing, and it will save many lives!"
"Thank you," she sighed and hugged him as the weight of the world fell off her shoulders finally. "I truly thought," she huffed, "I'd never hear those words."
"They're responding," Itachi cheered, "All Suna units are standing down!"
The one person that didn't act triumphant was Lord Minato. "I have to go; I have to save my son!" He disappeared in a flash.
The sensation of someone ripping Naruto's intestines apart threatened to overwhelm him with every movement. Ignore it! You're dead if you don't get this under control! Shukaku towered over him, easily several hundred feet tall. Oh crap! Naruto's eyes fixed on Gaara, hanging limply from beneath Shukaku's neck.
"Here goes nothing!" Sasuke screamed aloud as he charged up the side of the tailed beast that suspended a now unconscious Gaara in place. Miraculously, it didn't react until a loud whistling sound began coming from Sasuke. Not his Chidori! It will kill Gaara!
"Sasuke, wait!" Naruto called out, but a huge wall of sand came between the other boy and his target. Like an angry sand god's hand, it came at Sasuke. Sasuke in turn, rammed his Chidori at the barrier of sand, the lightning turning it into a spatter of molten glass. Shukaku roared as Sasuke reached Gaara, slapping the residual lightning of his attack into the base of Gaara's neck.
Gaara screamed as the cursed seal was burned off of his neck, and the black tendrils faded. Whatever relief Naruto had was short-lived – the sand reformed around Sasuke, crushing him, and then body-slamming him into the ground with a sickening THUD!
"Sasuke!" Sakura, Hinata, and he all screamed in unison. The sand began forming a tomb over Sasuke, and Naruto knew the boy would be dead if they didn't act – assuming he wasn't already dead. Kyuubi, help me!
"You're dying, kid!" Kurama replied.
I don't care, we have to save Sasuke and Gaara!
"Kyuubi, please!" Hinata's soft voice pleaded through the chakra link.
"All right, enough with the sad purple eyes! You have to wake Gaara up and get him to reassert control over Shukaku! Easy enough!" Kurama laugh in his head.
What is so funny? Naruto felt the warm of Nine-Tails Chakra spreading throughout him.
"I've been waiting a long time to stomp that one-tailed weenie out!" Kurama formed a huge grin that expanded to Naruto and Hinata's lips.
"Just remember, we want him alive!" Hinata scolded. Three tails sprouted from her flaming beast form, same as Nartuo. I hope it's enough.
"And conscious, Hinata," Naruto reminded her, "We don't know if blocking Gaara's chakra will disable the beast or separate him completely from Gaara's control; so no gentle fist! Let's go!" With Nine-Tails chakra flowing through his body, Naruto momentarily was free from the sensation of a bony hand squeezing his appendix, but he knew better. Gotta end this quick, or I'm dead. Can't leave the village like this! Can't leave Hinata like this!
He zigged right and Hinata went left. Through Kyuubi's chakra, Naruto instinctively targeted Shukaku's massive tail. Shukakua must have noticed because he slashed at Naruto, one strike hitting home. The impact sent his sideways through several trees. Nevertheless, tailed-beast chakra protected him from the worst of the impact – it would have killed anyone normally.
ROAR!
Shukaku's screech shook the ground like a hellacious earthquake. "Now Naruto!" Hinata shouted at the top of her range, having driven on of Nine-Tails Claws through Shukaku's tail. Two foxes are better than one! Naruto charged forward, moving almost as fast as Dad thanks to Kurama's chakra boost.
As Naruto charged up the side of Shukaku, he deactivated his tailed-beast form. "What the hell are you doing!" Kurama growled, "You get hit like that, you'll die!"
"Make it count, then!" Naruto said to himself, dodging a swipe by Shukaku as he reached Gaara. "Gaara! Wake up damn you!" Naruto smacked him across the face.
Gaara roused, confused. "Na-Naruto?" his eyes were unfocused.
"Gaara, you have to stop Shukaku!" Naruto demanded.
"I-I can't!" the boy cried. "It will just be like before! He'll just get loose again!"
"NO IT WON'T GAARA!" Naruto roared, putting both hands on the boy's shoulders. Naruto began linking his chakra with Gaara. "The invasion is being stopped, Gaara," he implored, "You're the Kazekage now!"
"The people will just hate me, like they always have!"
"They don't understand you!" Naruto stared into his friend's eyes, "But if you take control now, you won't be a monster! You'll have save Sasuke! You'll have been the hero that saved your village countless lives lost in a needless invasion! We can stop this from every happening again! We can live in peace!"
"Peace," a lone tear traced down Gaara's eye, "sounds amazing." Gaara closed his eyes. His face twitched with the effort of concentration, but calm washed over him as his eyes opened again. Shukaku began shrinking, letting out one last roar.
As they landed softly on the ground, Shukaku now completely contained, Gaara smiled. "Thank you, Naruto!"
A sudden ripping sensation in Naruto's stomach doubled Naruto over. "D-don't thank me yet," Naruto fell to his knees. Searing pain expanded outward from his core, and his gut muscles spasmed. Naruto contorted into a fetal position.
"Naruto-kun!" Hinata screamed as she appeared in sight.
"Naruto!" Gaara knelt down, "What's wrong!"
"His appendix is tearing!" Hinata screamed, "Naruto hang on!"
"Sorry, love…" pain overcame him as a bright flash entered Naruto's vision.
Minato arrived at Training Ground Three to a grizzly sight. Sakura was bent over Sasuke, sweat beading down her face as she worked on the boy, now covered in angry bruises. His heart stood still as he saw Gaara and Hinata kneeling next to Naruto. "SON!" Minato scrambled to his son's side.
"Lord Fourth, it's his appendix, it's starting to rupture! He's bleeding internally!"
"Get him to the hospital!" Sakura shouted, "I've got Sasuke, just send back help!"
Minato put his arms over Gaara, Hinata, and Naruto, "Hold on!" he commanded as they were transported to Konoha Hospital, by now reopened.
"Lord Fourth!" an orderly gasped.
"You have incoming casualties," Minato rose to his feet, "This one has appendicitis, we think he's already rupturing!"
"I'll bring the team out and get him into surgery." The orderly ran to get help.
"Hinata, stay with him!" Minato commanded, "I'll be right back!" She nodded. A quick flash and he was back with Sakura and Sasuke. "Right, here we go!"
"Lord Fourth, we have to be gentle!" Sakura cried, "He has multiple broken bones, including a skull fracture!"
Minato nodded, praying he wouldn't have to bury anyone's son today. "Okay, keep him still, on three. One. Two. THREE!" they transported back to the courtyard in the Hospital where he had been moment's before. "I have a trauma case here, multiple broken bones, including a skull fracture!" he shouted. Sakura hadn't stopped working.
Author's notes: Hello, everyone. I hope you are all well, and I hope you enjoyed the chapter. I'd like to thank everyone who has followed this story thus far. As mentioned, this story will be wrapping in a few more chapter. Volume II will be starting on October 10, 2020, just in case you were wondering. I'll see you all next week!
Adam